Life lessons learnt and shared with my niece, Lottie Mia

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#56 You are not immortal

Oh little girl, how I wish you were. How I wish we all were. I have often dreamed that I could hold people tight enough to keep them here with me forever, because sometimes it feels as though this could be possible. But of course. It isn’t.

As I have grown older, so has my awareness of my mortality. As I grow older; the belief that I would always be young dissipates (because there was a time when I simply could not imagine being older). I’m not worried; having an awareness of your mortality is a great, good thing, and need not be sad, or bad or morbid. Let the awareness exist and live your life remembering to pack each day with the good and to not waste time on the things that aren’t. Don’t get caught up in trivial or superficial worries; worry about the things that are worth worrying about and fight for the things worth fighting for; the things that will make life better for you or others. Use your life-force to do good, and to fulfill your wishes, to cherish your friendships and relationships. And above all, use your life to do what you want to do. Don’t spend years working in an office, when really you want to be running your own cafe. Don’t become a teacher or a lawyer because you feel it’s a ‘stable’ profession. If you want to run your own arts and crafts business, or set off to teach English in Thailand, or spend your life trying to invent some kind of wonderful machine, do that! Why not? Check you’re doing what you want to be doing, what makes you happy, not doing something because you ‘should’ be. (Should is a funny word, we’ll talk about it some time.)

An awareness of mortality also means, LOOK AFTER YOURSELF. Don’t take silly risks; don’t do silly or dangerous things when you’re drunk. Listen to your instincts, if something feels wrong in a situation, it probably is, listen to that tiny voice inside, it knows a lot. Be healthy, your body is your vehicle for your life, take good care of it.

Lions in South Africa. I took this photo while on Safari. Constantly feeling danger so close to these powerful animals, but being safe at the same time.